The after-effect of Britney Spears' buzz cut and tattoos

Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 12:19 [IST]

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Washington, Feb 19 : It has been a year since Britney Spears got her buzz cut and tattoos, but the antics which took place in Feb 16 2007 has left the two owners whose stores she visited, still reeling from the after-effects.

Esther's Salon's owner, Esther Tognozzi revealed that her life was disrupted dramatically, with tourists coming from around the world, after they heard that she had given Spears' the haircut.

"It was a major disruption in my life. I have tourists come by from other countries, and we keep the door locked since people try and sneak in to take pictures or sit in the chair she sat in," People mag quoted her as saying.

Tognozz says that she no longer answers her salon phone, after she received a high volume of calls from the media as well as pranksters. She revealed that she has even had to hire a lawyer after people started websites in her name, claiming to be selling Spears' hair.

"They were using my identity. Talk about an invasion of privacy. I got a little glimpse of her world, and it makes me feel bad for her," she stated.

Esther still has Britney's hair and the buzzer that was used, and she is still waiting for the pop star to come and retrieve the items herself.

"People offered me quite a bit to buy it, especially in the first 48 hours since they wanted to drug test it," she said.

"But it would be nice if she came back and collected it," she added.

Tognozzi is hoping her discretion will pay off for the Etchmiadzin Children's Fund, an Armenian orphanage she works with.

"Maybe she'll give me a check to help the orphanage," she mused.

Meanwhile another storeowner, who had to deal with a more difficult audience, was the owner of Body and Soul Tattoo in Sherman Oaks, Dave Rothburgh.

Spears had gone to him after her haircut to get two tattoos done, a black, white, and pink cross on her hip and red lips on her wrist.

"We had stalkers and people calling with death threats," Rothburgh remembers of the months after Spears's visit.

"They would leave nasty messages, like, 'We're gonna kill you! How could you do that!" he stated.

Rothburgh revealed that he was relieved that there was not much interest taken on the tattoos, even though the thought of making "10 million dollars in Spears tattoos" did occur to him.

"We were surprised that we only had one or two people asking for the Britney Spears lips. But even those people do it as a joke, not because they idolize her," he added.